What to Expect in Health News in 2017

If you thought the health world in 2016 was interesting, then you’ll probably love the health news coming out in 2017.

“This could be one of the wildest years in healthcare ever,” Kurt Mosley, vice president of strategic alliances at Merritt Hawkins consultants, told Healthline.

The political fight over whether and how much to repeal the Affordable Care Act (ACA) will most likely dominate health news this year.

However, issues such as the approval of new drugs, the implementation of new marijuana laws, and the battle over new restrictions on abortion services will be high profile.

In addition, there is expected to be some important clinical trials for Alzheimer’s disease drugs, more advances in cancer treatment, and the first payments from the 21st Century Cures Act.

Plus, technology will increase the availability and uses of things in the medical industry such as 3D printing, wearable technology, and telemedicine.

Healthy political fights

The new 115th Congress was sworn in today and already Republican leaders are discussing plans to dismantle the healthcare law known as Obamacare (ACA).

Vice President-elect Mike Pence is scheduled to meet with GOP congressional leaders on Wednesday to discuss the repeal of the ACA.

At the same time, President Obama will gather with Democratic congressional leaders to develop strategies on how to save at least portions of his signature healthcare law.

During the president’s term, the GOP-controlled Congress several times sent legislation to repeal Obamacare to Obama’s desk. Each time, the president vetoed the measure.

That will change on Jan. 20 when President-elect Donald Trump takes the oath of office.

Trump said during the 2016 campaign that dismantling the ACA would be one of his top priorities.

How much of Obamacare will be gutted and how quickly it will be dismantled are uncertain.

Trump has said he favors keeping the ACA provision that prohibits insurance companies from denying coverage to people with preexisting conditions, as well as the statute that allows children under the age of 26 to stay on their parents’ health coverage plans.

The big question, Mosley said, is whether the Republicans will retain the ACA provision that requires all Americans to purchase health insurance.

Without that mandate, Mosley said, the insurance system simply won’t work because younger healthy people won’t sign up. Those enrollees help balance out the more expensive older and less healthy insurance recipients.

Jack Needleman, Ph.D., chair of the Department of Health Policy and Management at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), Fielding School of Public Health, agrees.

“The industry will collapse without it,” he told Healthline.

In addition, Republican leaders are now talking about potential changes to Medicare, the health program for people over the age of 65.

However, Mosley and Needleman said major changes in healthcare programs that are enacted this year probably won’t take effect for at least a year if not three years.

Needleman said the biggest changes may actually occur in employer-based insurance plans, which cover about 55 percent of the population.

Needleman said consumers can expect premiums as well as deductibles and co-payments to rise in 2017.

The UCLA professor also expects environmental issues such as climate change and regulations on the coal and oil industries to be big health issues this year.

He said the short-term effects of air pollution and water quality can be respiratory conditions and water-related illnesses such as the ones that affected residents of Flint, Michigan, in 2016.

The long-term effects include cancer and other life-threatening diseases.

“The environment is a health issue,” Needleman said. “These, I think, will have consequences.”

The other major political fight will probably center on Republican attempts to further restrict access to abortion services.

There are already plans in motion to eliminate federal funds for Planned Parenthood operations as well as the adoption of new regulations such as the “heartbeat” law in Ohio that limit when a woman can seek an abortion.

Cancer, HIV, Alzheimer’s

Scientists will be active in virtually all fields of disease research, but there’s expected to be a lot of activity in three arenas in particular.

It will also be the first year of funding under the 21st Century Cures Act, which was approved by Congress and signed into law last month.

The program provides $4.8 billion to the National Institutes of Health (NIH) over the next 10 years.

That money will be used to fund research for cancer, Alzheimer’s, and other diseases.

Dr. George Demetri, professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School, and a member of the board of directors of the American Association for Cancer Research, told Healthline he expects to see advances in genetic-based research involving T cells and other mechanisms.

He said technology could also be developed that would move cancer cells and other unhealthy organisms into the human body’s “trash can.”

Demetri also expects the debate to continue over the effectiveness of immunology therapies vs. the cost of these treatments.

Dr. Robert C. Robbins, president and chief executive officer at the Texas Medical Center, expects to see more success from treatments that utilize the immune system.

In fact, he told Healthline, he wouldn’t be surprised if some of these therapies begin to be used to treat rheumatoid arthritis and other autoimmune diseases.

“I can see it playing out in other facets,” he said. “We’re starting to see results that are encouraging.”

Dr. Len Lichtenfeld, deputy chief medical officer for the American Cancer Society, told Healthline he doesn’t expect anything ground-breaking to happen in 2017, but there will be developments that will “significantly influence cancer research” in the future.

There may also be some hopeful developments in the search for a cure for Alzheimer’s disease.

Keith Fargo, Ph.D., director of scientific programs and outreach, medical and scientific relations for the Alzheimer’s Association, told Healthline he expects to see more interest in the tau proteins that form in the brains of people with the disease.

He also notes that information on a number of clinical trials will be released in 2017.

Fargo also expects to see more focus on lifestyle factors such as diet and exercise as ways to prevent dementia.

There is also some optimism in the treatment of HIV and AIDS.

This past week, Intarcia Therapeutics Inc., announced that the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is investing up to $140 million in a tiny implantable drug pump the company is developing.

The pump holds six to 12 months’ worth of medicine. Company officials said it’s designed to deliver microscopic doses continuously, which could help prevent people in Africa from becoming infected with HIV.

This announcement came a week after the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases revealed the first large-scale clinical trial of the injectable drug cabotegravir.

The experiment will examine whether injections of the drug every eight weeks can protect men and transgender females from HIV infection.